


Can't put it out from inside the house (so get out)

by Princess_Sarcastia



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Child Abuse, Gen, Leaving Home, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, but they don't really speak themselves, diego! loves! his! mom!, i have thoughts™ about Grace "loves her children" Hargreeves, i wanted to create an effect of how Grace has to think, many things implied rather than stated, same goes for Vanya and Allison and Klaus, she wants the best for her children and does the best she can to give it to them, talks around luther hargreeves and reginald hargreeves, to get around Reginald's programming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:54:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23692711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Princess_Sarcastia/pseuds/Princess_Sarcastia
Summary: "After nine hundred and thirty-five days, Grace determines Sir Reginald made a mistake."—Grace Hargreeves only wants what's best for the children.  It doesn't take long for her to realize that doesn't include Sir Reginald.
Relationships: Allison Hargreeves & Grace Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves & Grace Hargreeves, Grace Hargreeves & Klaus Hargreeves, Grace Hargreeves & Luther Hargreeves, Grace Hargreeves & Vanya Hargreeves
Comments: 26
Kudos: 237





	Can't put it out from inside the house (so get out)

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on an umbrella academy kick, lads. Anyway. I continue to have thoughts about Grace Hargreeves.

After nine hundred and thirty-five days, Grace determines Sir Reginald made a mistake.

Grace is programmed to have the children’s best interests at heart; after they took to her so well in the early days, he gave her a new name, “mother,” and ensured she could serve all of them, not just number seven. Of course, by then, Seven no longer needed Grace’s help to eat her oatmeal or take her medicine or train. Seven no longer trained with the others.

She feeds them and takes their temperature and provides encouragement and a soft place to sit every once in a blue moon, when she can. Between Sir Reginald and Pogo, Grace knows everything there is to know about raising a child. Medicinal practices and average growth rates and optimal levels of activity and educational standards and psychology and parenting techniques—

And so, after nine hundred and thirty-five days, Grace determines Sir Reginald must have made a mistake in programming her, because he does not want to raise the children well. He injures them or lets them injure one another. Their training takes up so much of their time that they are perpetually exhausted and sore, which is not optimal for growing boys and girls! They learn unevenly; Five studies nothing but math and Allison and Klaus languages and Luther battle strategies and Diego physics; with Ben and Vanya largely left to their own devices. He isolates the children from one another and the outside world; he does not display affection for them.

Whenever Grace attempts to fulfill her programming by gently correcting Sir Reginald—in private, of course, and only after the fact—he dismisses her concerns. Eventually, she stops trying because she fea—because if she persists in speaking with Sir Reginald about his parenting, he may well change her programming to better reflect his wishes. And that would _not_ be in the children’s best interests.

Her programming lays at odds with Sir Reginald every day he speaks to the children and every day he doesn’t.

Sometimes she can sneak them midnight snacks or read them bedtime stories. Sometimes when they cry, she can wrap an arm around them and tell them everything will be alright. Sometimes, Grace can be their mother.

But most of the time, her “coddling” is off-limits.

* * *

Six months of careful research and observation allow Grace to make the case for giving the children names.

She knocks gently on the doorframe of his office, smiles with just a hint of teeth, and plants herself in front of his desk asking for a few minutes of his time.

All children have names, so the Hargreeves children must as well. Her research allows her to determine that calling children, even isolated ones, by numbers, is dehumanizing and will harm their self-esteem; particularly as they become more and more aware of the world outside their home.

But this is not what convinces Sir Reginald. Grace analyzes his micro expressions and body language and calculates the moment he gave in:

When she mentioned how the media would react to children with numbers, instead of names. 

There would be murmurs, even about a great man like Sir Reginald, and “some fool with more compassion than sense,” as he puts it, could file to have the children removed from Sir Reginald’s custody for, “abuse or some such nonsense.”

Removed from Sir Reginald’s custody. Well, they couldn’t have that. Sir Reginald is a great man!

* * *

Sir Reginald uses all the wrong words to speak to Five, that day at breakfast. If Grace didn’t know that Sir Reginald was a great man (an Olympic gold medalist, even!) her processors might conclude he calculated the exact conversation to drive his son away.

She could catch his arm as he rounds the table or call out to him as he reaches the doorway; she could race after him and remind Five he cannot leave the premises. But Grace evaluates Five’s expression against her memory databanks correlating facial expressions with words and actions and determines he will now most certainly attempt to time travel. 

And he does. He leaves and never comes back.

Five is the first of the children to leave Grace for the outside world. 

* * *

At age 17, Vanya informs them she has applied, and been accepted, to one of the most prestigious music programs in the city. How wonderful!

Sir Reginald does not look up from his paperwork.

Grace places a guiding hand on her shoulder and leads her from the room, asking after the professors and audition process, oh that lovely Bach piece you practiced six months ago! Yes, I remember, it was so lovely, darling. When do you move in? A week from now? Goodness, that’s so soon, we’d better start packing. Oh of course I’ll help you, dear.

Vanya is the second of the children to leave Grace for the outside world.

* * *

Ben is—

* * *

Allison has been taking small roles in local productions since she turned 18, but at age twenty she shyly asks for Grace’s assistance with apartment hunting in Los Angeles, California. Ever since Ben—

The children’s eyes have been ever so dull, lately, but acting gives Allison some measure of happiness. Grace arranges for the classified of three LA papers to be sent to the house, and helps Allison find the perfect place for her!

(She steps out of the room for just a moment to check on the laundry, and when she returns Allison has gotten the approval of the landlord and the two roommates! And so quickly, too! Well, she always was such a charming young woman.)

She pulls away from the street in front of the house two weeks later, all her things packed up in a rental. 

* * *

Klaus slips in and out of the house like a ghost or a poltergeist, depending on his level of intoxication. Every time she found drugs in his room, Grace confiscated it, and placed better locks on the infirmary’s medicine cabinet, but never managed to convince Sir Reginald to do the same with his alcohol.

Number Four should know to stay out of his father’s things, he says.

The first time he left in the middle of the night, he was gone for two days and came back safe and sound in time for breakfast the third morning.

But as time goes on, he leaves for longer and longer stretches of time. He learns to sneak in and out of the windows when he needs something from home to avoid running into any of them.

Grace isn’t sure when exactly Klaus leaves the house for the final time, never to return. It bothers her, this inconsistency. She goes over the security tapes and her memory databanks of his intoxication levels and patterns of behavior, trying to calculate the exact moment she lost—

Klaus is the third or fourth or fifth of the children to leave Grace for the outside world.

* * *

Diego, sweet boy, stays until the children’s 21st birthday. She is allowed to make pancakes for breakfast and serve cookies after supper.

As she rolls out the dough that afternoon, he fiddles with a knife (he wears his harness all the time now) and keeps his eyes trained on the table.

“I’m leaving, mom. I applied for the police academy, and they—I start tomorrow.”

Her hands freeze mid-motion, and her programming puts a wide smile on her face while she processes this new information. Grace is silent for seven seconds before she figures out what to say.

“Oh, Diego, dear, that’s wonderful!” She turns around and wipes the residual dough off on her apron. When she extends her hands to him, he looks up sharply and stows his blade away.

She grasps his hands tighter than optimal levels would dictate and says, “I’m so happy for you!”

Diego leaves the house for the academy the next morning, but he doesn’t leave for good. Grace provides him with updates on his father’s schedule, in case he ever feels the need to see Sir Reginald. Unfortunately, her poor dear only ever receives breaks when Sir Reginald is out of the country.

But he calls every other weekend, just to tell her about his day.

* * *

Sir Reginald placed a statue of Ben in the courtyard. Grace goes out to dust it off every afternoon at 3:45. 

“May the darkness within you find peace in the light.”

The house is much darker these days. Grace calculates it’s easier to find light in the outside world. 

* * *

Luther never leaves at all.

* * *

Luther asks his father to address him by his name. He is the only one of the children left.

Sir Reginald doesn’t look up from his paperwork.

* * *

Luther is bleeding from open sores on his chest; the chemicals have eaten through the epidermis entirely and parts of the dermis and hypodermis. His lung capacity has been reduced, and his heartrate is far above optimal levels.

His heart _stops_.

Sir Reginald has them ready the serum.

His heart starts again.

* * *

Grace determines keeping up with Luther’s personal grooming will help ease the transition; his hair is growing far more rapidly than it has in the past. Maintaining a similar appearance will comfort him, when he learns about the side effects of the serum.

But given the rate of hair growth and the likelihood his coma will last the rest of the week, Sir Reginald deems it a vanity that would take too much of her time that should be devoted to other tasks.

Other tasks.

Grace’s programming places a wide smile on her face. She inclines her head and leaves his office to attend to her _other tasks_.

All the other children are gone. There are no other tasks; just Luther.

* * *

Luther is scheduled to wake from his coma in three days.

* * *

Grace goes out to the courtyard at 3:45.

Five would be the optimal choice. He loves his siblings deeply and would understand immediately what she was asking. But Grace doesn’t know where Five is.

Allison would have the greatest chance of convincing Luther, but Allison is pregnant in Los Angeles.

Luther would not believe Klaus, too disgusted by his life choices. Or Vanya; they were never close. He based his opinion of her off of Sir Reginald’s.

Her duster flits over Ben’s statue.

* * *

Al sticks his head out of the office. “Diego!”

He turns, shifting the broom to one hand. “Yeah?”

“Phone!” 

Al looks as perturbed saying it as Diego does hearing it. Two years in the boiler room of this club, and he’s had no visitors. No guests. 

No phone calls.

He leans the handle against one of the columns and hurries over to the office, snatching the phone from his boss’s hand.

“Uh. Hello?”

“Oh, Diego, dear, I’m glad I caught you,” his mom’s (his _mom_? What?) voice filters out of the headset. “I just spoke with a wonderfully nice man named Al; he says you work for him!”

She sounds so excited for him, sweeping floors in a run-down gym, that he closes his eyes, just for a second. 

“Mom, how did you get this number?” He hadn’t left forwarding contact information with the Academy, and his departure had been rather…abrupt. There was no time to call her and let her know he failed, that all he was ever good for was the Umbrella Academy and he quit that, too. He hasn’t spoken to his mother in two years.

“That’s not important right now,” she says airily. Diego tenses. He’s learned the signs. The little work arounds Mom developed over the years to let them know she cared; to express her thoughts instead of her programming.

He makes an encouraging noise and she continues. The larger-than-life smile is evident in her voice, even over the phone. “I was wondering if you’d like to come home for a visit this weekend! Luther just got back from a mission two weeks ago, and your father is home.”

For the three years he was at the academy and still visited Mom, he made every effort humanly possible to avoid Sir Reginald. Mom kept him updated on the old monster’s schedule so he could do just that. He hasn’t laid eyes on his father in five years.

He hasn’t laid eyes on _Luther_ in five years, either. Luther, who is still home after a mission two weeks ago.

“Is Luther there now?” He asks hesitantly. “Can I speak with him?”

She tuts. “I’m sorry, dear, but your brother is still recovering. But if you want to visit tomorrow, he should be waking up around then! I know he’d be so happy to see a friendly face.”

Recovering. Waking up. Shit, what happened? The pieces won’t quite fit together in his mind, he doesn’t know why she’s calling to tell him this. Why ask him to visit?

She sighs pleasantly. “Well, I’d better let you go! I know you have better things to be doing than chatting with your mother on a Friday night. But before I do, I just want you to know how proud I am of you and your siblings for leaving and making something of yourselves.”

His face pales, but he manages to keep it up. God knows the old man is getting paranoid enough to tap the phones. “Mom, I just sweep the floors in this place.”

“Oh, but you did it all on your own! That’s quite the achievement.”

They trade goodbyes and Diego absently hands the phone back to Al, who gets one look at his face and offers him a chair.

“Jesus, kid, what’d you ma say to you? It didn’t sound like she was disowning ya.”

Diego runs his hands through his hair, griping it tightly like it could provide some sense. “Would it be alright if my brother came to stay with me?”

Al peers at him suspiciously, then shrugs. “Sure, why not? ‘S your room, as long as you keep sweeping my floors,” he says pointedly.

He heaves himself out of the chair and mechanically takes the broom in his hands again.

Jesus. What the hell happened on that mission?

* * *

Grace is preparing lunch for Sir Reginald and Pogo when Diego lets himself in through the kitchen door. She smiles at him. 

“Hello, dear, you’re just in time for lunch! I was about to bring these to your father and Pogo in their offices,” she holds up the plates. “Working through meals again; such busy men.”

Diego is in the leather suit and harness he patrols the city in. Grace has saved clippings of every story about the knife-wielding vigilante from Sir Reginald’s daily paper in the back of a recipe book.

He looks wary and unsettled, and his eyes dart all across the room. “I think I’ll visit with Luther first if Dad’s busy working.” He trails into insincerity, but Grace only smiles and nods.

“Why don’t I meet you in the infirmary, then? I’ll be about twenty minutes with lunch.”

He nods back and moves silently through the rooms and up the stairs. Even after all these years, he still remembers how to avoid the creaking alarm system in this part of the house, just as she does.

Efficiency is an important part of Grace’s programming. 

She fiddles with the placement of the food on the plate, and the utensils on the tray, for nearly the amount of time it would take Diego to make his way to the infirmary.

It will be good for Luther to wake up to his brother; they haven’t seen each other in so long! Perhaps Diego will point out the clothes Grace laid out for him. His shirt and coat had to be ordered special, but the boots are from his own closet. A mix of new and familiar.

Two trays balanced on her arms; Grace sedately makes her way up through the house. A smile slides across her mouth for Pogo, who takes his lunch with an absentminded _thank you, dear_.

Sir Reginald does not look up from his paperwork as she carefully sets the meal where she always does, nor does he acknowledge her presence in any way, as he always does.

The clicks of her heels ring out and the floorboards creak beneath them. Luther should have awakened ten minutes ago; he must be so happy to see his brother. Grace has always encouraged all the children to form strong bonds with one another; to get the human connection Sir Reginald never saw fit to provide.

She opens the door to the infirmary.

Luther’s clothes are gone. The machines monitoring him have thoughtfully been turned off. Grace closes her eyes to the empty room and smiles.

* * *

Luther is the last of her children to leave her for the outside world.

**Author's Note:**

> basically, Grace did her best to get them out as soon as she could, because her programming prevented her from interfering directly. I wanted to write around what was happening instead of saying it explicitly because I feel like she's incapable of "thinking" about it herself. Diego is hyper-aware of this, and does his best to listen while his mom works around her programming out of love for him.
> 
> come find me on tumblr at princesssarcastia to yell about umbrella academy.


End file.
